Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(54)

Sara flinched at the blunt accusation in her sister’s tone.

“No, you had your nonfluent mother setting aside her career until Jonathan and you started school,” Ruth countered.

She shot a sharp look at Robin and reached for her vitamin smoothie. Lips pursed around her metal reusable straw, Sara’s mom swallowed the rest of her usual reprimand, though her disappointment etched her thin face.

The age-old mother-daughter disagreement and the way Robin dragged Sara into it scraped down Sara’s spine like sharp fingernails. It used to draw blood, send her tiptoeing away to avoid the fray. The years her mother had stayed home with her first two children, putting her blossoming career on hold, later choosing not to do the same after Sara was born, were a thorn in all three Vance women’s sides. For completely different reasons.

While Sara had been working hard to figure out how to let go of the abandonment she felt, every once in a while, Robin poked at the sore spot.

“And thus began the merry-go-round of college student nannies, many of whom required babysitters of their own.” Robin’s lips twisted with sarcasm. “Remember the one who needed my help with her algebra when I was in seventh grade?”

“Oh god, how about the girl who mixed up the sugar and salt when she tried to bake us chocolate chip cookies? Twice!” Jonathan threw in, his scrunched face mimicking his mouthed “gross.”

A chorus of moans greeted his addition to the bumpy trip down memory lane. Sara heard Luis’s muttered “yuck” and glanced over her shoulder to find his expression matched her brother’s.

Robin laughed, her sour mood thankfully lifting. “Yeah, chemistry was definitely not her best class. However, silver lining, mother, tutoring her and several others actually aided me with my own studies.”

Ruth dipped her head, accepting Robin’s attempt to smooth over their rough patch.

“Now that I think about it, many of them must have been one of those undecided, cakewalk Humanities majors like art or basket-weaving.”

Sara cringed inside, recalling her first two years as an Exploratory Humanities, Fine Arts and Design major until she settled on her general BA in the Arts degree. One of those often belittled “cakewalk majors” Robin so easily denigrated.

Her father’s gaze slid to Sara’s. He winked, understanding how her sister’s inadvertent dig might chafe. In years past, comments like this had burrowed under her skin. Festering. Contributing to the self-doubt that drove her OSFED.

With therapy, she’d learned to separate her sister’s perspective from her own. Focus on the positives about herself rather than the perceived shortcomings.

“Cakewalk or not,” Sara answered, “humanities majors make successful social media influencers. From my experience anyway.”

“Touché.” Jonathan tipped his bottle toward her.

Luis reached out to tap his beer with her brother’s, the show of solidarity lightening the weight of Robin’s dismissal.

“So, where’d you go to school?” Robin asked Luis, at the same time she tapped a domino to indicate Edward should play it. “University of Miami?”

Nestled in his lap, Sara felt Luis stiffen. She realized, they’d gone over details like this about her family because the Vances prided themselves on their academic pedigree, especially med school. But Luis hadn’t mentioned whether or not he’d gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree after getting his EMT and paramedic certifications and joining the fire department.

Sara pretended to fiddle with one of Luis’s dominoes; then she laid her hand over his on the table in a silent show of support. Luis twisted his wrist to thread his fingers with hers in a move that felt completely natural.

“I started here at Florida Keys Community College,” he told Robin. “It saved money, and I was able to keep working, leading dive and snorkel tours. After that, I finished up online.”

“The blue-collar route to improving your opportunities,” Robin said. “Nothing to be ashamed of.”

Sara gritted her teeth, annoyed by her sister’s condescending tone. Even though Robin probably didn’t intend to be.

Jonathan started to say something, but Carolyn tightened her arms around his shoulders with a playful jostle. He gave her a squinty-eyed glare, but it quickly dissolved into a sheepish grin that ended with them giving each other a quick kiss.

Sara marveled at her mild-mannered sister-in-law’s ability to distract her brother in a bid to keep the peace among the siblings.

“I think it shows initiative. Not to mention sound financial decision-making,” Sara’s dad noted. “I admire that. Especially in the person dating my youngest.”

Luis shifted in his seat. When she teetered on his lap, he wrapped his arm around her waist, securing her comfortably against him.

“As the son of a local firefighter and stay-at-home mom, I learned early on to appreciate what we had,” Luis explained. “My parents taught me the value of hard work, faith, and service to others.”

“Important values,” Sara’s mother said. “If your siblings are anything like you, your parents must be as proud as I am of my three.”

Robin, of course, preened under their mother’s praise. Sara focused on appreciating her mother’s compliment instead of questioning it, remembering her therapist’s advice to not add unwarranted subtext to others’ statements.